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Alias
Joined: 24 Jan 2003
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 Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 5:28 pm Post subject: The Quiet Campaign Against Birth Control |
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http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/08/21/3302/
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At National Right to Life�s conference this year, Mitt Romney set out to convince anti-abortion leaders he was their candidate. At the podium, he rattled off his qualifications. To a layman�s ears, it sounded pretty standard for abortion politics. He wants to overturn Roe v. Wade. He supports teaching only abstinence to teens.
But for those trained to hear the subtleties, Mr. Romney was acknowledging something more. He implied an opposition to the birth control pill and a willingness to join in their efforts to scale back access to contraception. There are code phrases to listen for - and for those keeping score, Mr. Romney nailed each one.
One code phrase is: �I fought to define life as beginning at conception rather than at the time of implantation.� The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists defines pregnancy as starting at implantation, the first moment a pregnancy can be known. Anti-abortion advocates want pregnancy to start at the unknown moment sperm and egg meet: fertilization. They�d also like you to believe, despite evidence to the contrary, that the birth control pill prevents that fertilized egg from implanting in the womb.
Mr. Romney�s code, deciphered, meant, �I, like you, hope to reclassify the most commonly used forms of contraceptives as abortions.� In fact, he told the crowd, he already had some practice redefining contraception: �I vetoed a so-called emergency contraception bill that gave young girls abortive drugs without prescription or parental consent.�
No matter that emergency contraception has the same mode of action as the birth control pill and every other hormonal method of birth control. To the anti-abortion movement, contraception is the ultimate corruptor. And so this year, the unspoken rule for candidates seeking the support of anti-abortion groups is that they must offer proof they�re anti-contraception too.
Unannounced candidate and former Sen. Fred Thompson at first denied he had been a lobbyist for the contraception advocacy group the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association. Until billing records materialized proving he worked for the group, he somehow had �no recollection of it.�
Presidential hopeful Sen. Sam Brownback, Republican of Kansas, beefed up his anti-contraception resume by co-sponsoring a bill to de-fund the nation�s largest contraception provider, Planned Parenthood, by excluding it from Title X family planning for the poor. Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain�s campaign officials boast he has �consistently voted against taxpayer-funded contraception programs.� And Mr. McCain reports that his adviser on sexual-health matters is Sen. Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, who leads campaigns claiming condoms are unsafe and opposing emergency contraception.
Another presidential candidate, Rep. Tom Tancredo, like Mr. Romney, has ventured far into the �contraception-is-abortion� territory. According to Mr. Tancredo, a Colorado Republican, emergency contraception �cheapens human life and simply uses a woman�s body to dispose of the child instead of a doctor.� By the same logic, so do the birth control pill, the contraceptive patch, the IUD, the NuvaRing, and the Depo-Provera shot - which, it�s worth noting, together account for 40 percent of the birth control American women use.
The American public is unaware of the new wave of anti-contraception activism by opponents of abortion, which makes it much easier for politicians to appease the anti-contraception base. Take, for example, President Bush. While he has delivered some big anti-abortion victories for the religious right in the last seven years (Supreme Court Justices John G. Roberts Jr. and Samuel A. Alito Jr., and the so-called partial-birth abortion ban), anti-contraception work has taken up more of his energy. He attempted to strip contraceptive coverage for federal employees; appointed anti-birth control leader David Hager to the FDA panel that approves and expands access to contraceptive methods; chose another contraception opponent to oversee the nation�s contraceptive program for the poor; defunded international family-planning programs, and invested unprecedented sums into sex-ed programs that prohibit mention of contraception. |
It is bad enough that they are doing it in America but supporting programs in the third world that preach abstinence only and exclude mention of contraception is deadly.
Last edited by Alias on Tue Aug 21, 2007 6:03 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 5:34 pm Post subject: |
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The Religious Right, now more than ever, is a hollow core of a half masticated apple.
Their prime goal is overturning Roe v Wade safeguarded tightly by Stare Decisis, and battle fatigue is beginning to wear the culture warriors down. If they have influence in Africa, its must be because Africa is so Christian. But I wonder how much influence they truly wield there. |
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mack4289
Joined: 06 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 6:21 pm Post subject: |
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| Where's the sources that support the, "When they say this, they mean that" argument?. I know Bush has pushed a backwards sex-education agenda, but the "deciphering the code" part of the article seems like a big reach. |
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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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| Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 8:27 am Post subject: |
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| Kuros wrote: |
The Religious Right, now more than ever, is a hollow core of a half masticated apple.
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Agreed. And thank Jesus for it. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 8:38 am Post subject: |
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| Their prime goal is overturning Roe v Wade safeguarded tightly by Stare Decisis, and battle fatigue is beginning to wear the culture warriors down. |
They've been trying to get prayer back in the schools since their inception, and that's an issue on which they actually have majority opinion on their side. Yet victory seems as elusive as ever.
I suppose they've had some success in blocking gay marriage, but even in the most liberal countries, gay marriage hasn't been around for more than a decade or so, tops. |
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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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| Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 5:53 pm Post subject: |
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Praying in school. gross.
When I moved to public schools for one year (grade 6) we had to say the "lord's prayer". In public school. I assume that is no longer the case.
We also had to stand and sing "O Canada". Which is almost equally as gross. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:41 pm Post subject: |
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| On the other hand wrote: |
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| Their prime goal is overturning Roe v Wade safeguarded tightly by Stare Decisis, and battle fatigue is beginning to wear the culture warriors down. |
They've been trying to get prayer back in the schools since their inception, and that's an issue on which they actually have majority opinion on their side. Yet victory seems as elusive as ever.
I suppose they've had some success in blocking gay marriage, but even in the most liberal countries, gay marriage hasn't been around for more than a decade or so, tops. |
Gay marriage is still a state issue. There's no way past the crest of the Conservative moment that they'll get an amendment passed. I will concede that many States have blocked gay marriage in State statutes or even Constitutional amendment provisions. In my newly adopted state of Kentucky, no less! The Constitutional provisions in 11 states seem pretty serious obstacles to me, granted, but it still remains a State-by-State matter.
On the other hand, abortion is a federal question and a federally supported right. And I don't care how conservative the Supreme Court gets, Roe v Wade is a household name and as such cannot simply be overturned on the sly. It would jeopordize the entire principle of judicial precedent through Stare Decisis. Okay, so I believe Roe v Wade was one of the most ridiculous encroachments of judicial power in American history. But that doesn't change that a reversal by the Supreme Court itself would weaken the credibility of the court itself. "Uh, yeah, that earlier Supreme Court decision was over-reaching, and we're overturning our own decision."
Anyway, the States cannot even get their acts together and create standing for a review of the initial Supreme Court decision. South Dakota tried to ban abortion in a 2006 referendum and it failed. South Dakota! People can apparently come out to restrict the rights of a distinct minority, but when it comes to rights they might enjoy (and yes, men have some stake in the legalization of abortion) in a pinch, they won't deny themselves the right!
I'm not really disagreeing with anything you're saying, just kind of nodding my head while typing here.
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Oh, and here's a list that I've compiled that I think should encompass all the States' legal stance versus gay marriage. Please tell me if I've made any errors.
Legal gay marriage: Massachusetts
No ban whatsoever: New Mexico, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York
Civil Union or some other nebulous provision(s): Wyoming, Wisconsin, and Vermont
Constitutional amendment-backed bans: Mississippi, Montana and Oregon (marriage is a union between a man and a woman). Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma and Utah (ban even civil unions)
Statutory (Defense of Marriage) provisions: All other states not mentioned above |
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